Surah Al-Ma'idah 5:87-98 - Quran Translation Commentary

88. Verily Allah does not like those who commit excesses. And eat of the lawful and clean things which Allah has provided for you; and fear Allah in whom you believe.

89. Allah will not call you to account for your unintentional oaths, but He will call you to account for your deliberate oaths.²²⁸ In expiation²²⁹ thereof, feed ten needy persons with the average kind of food that you serve to your family, or clothe them, or give freedom to a slave. But whosoever cannot afford, for him is fasting for three days. That is the expiation for the oaths you have sworn.²³⁰ And be careful about your oaths.²³¹ Thus does Allah make clear His commands, so that you may be grateful.

90. O you who believe ! wine and gambling, stone -altars and divination from²³² arrows for drawing lots are all filthy and acts of Satan. So refrain from this, so that you may succeed.

91. Satan only seeks to cast enmity and hatred among you by means of wine and gambling, and keep you away from the remembrance of Allah and from salat (prayer).²³³ Will you not then abstain?

92. And obey Allah and obey the messenger, and beware ! If you turn away, then know that the duty of our messenger was to convey the message clearly.

93. On those who believed and performed deeds of righteousness, there is no sin for what they might have eaten (in the past), when they feared Allah, believed in Him and performed righteous acts; again feared Allah and believed in Him; again feared Allah and did good.²³⁴ And Allah loves those who do good.

94. O you who believe ! Allah will surely try you in the matter of a game which will be within the reach of your hands and your lances,²³⁵ so that He may see who fears Him unseen. So whoever transgresses after that, for him there will be painful punishment.

95. O you who believe ! Kill no game while you are in the state of pilgrimage (Ihram).²³⁶ whoever among you kills it intentionally, the compensation thereof is an offering of a domestic animal, equivalent to the one he killed, as adjudged by two just men among you, brought to the Ka ‘ba;²³⁷ or by way of atonement, the feeding of needy; or its equivalent fasts;²³⁸ so that he may taste the consequences of his deed. Allah has forgiven what is past, but whoever repeats, Allah will inflict penalty on him,²³⁹ And Allah is Mighty Lord of Retribution.

96. Lawful has been made for you the game of the sea and its use for food,²⁴⁰ for your benefit and that of the Caravan. But forbidden for you is hunting on land while you are in the state of pilgrimage (Ihram). And fear Allah to whom you shall be gathered.

97. Allah has made the Ka‘ba, the Sacred House, a means of stability for the people,²⁴¹ as also the Sacred Month, the animals for sacrifice and the animals with collars around their necks²⁴² (as mark for sacrifice), so that you may know that Allah has knowledge of what is in the heavens and on the earth and that Allah is well acquainted with all things.²⁴³

98. Know that Allah is severe in punishment, and that Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.²⁴⁴

Commentary

226. Earlier a mention of the monk was made. In this context an attempt is being made to remove a possible misunderstanding. The Christian monks have made unlawful for themselves many clean and lawful things and pleasures of the world, which was not a proper thing. The followers of Quran should eschew this ascetic way of life and should not treat lawful things as forbidden.

One form of declaring the food made lawful by God as unlawful is being followed by the polytheists of India in connection with meat eating. They have a very uncomfortable feeling in eating the flesh of the clean animals, and they avoid eating it merely on account of their superstition in such a way as a forbidden thing is avoided; and they want that others should also give up eating flesh of the clean animals.

227. Committing excess can be in the form of making unlawful what is lawful, and another thing is of indulging in wasteful spending of lawful things.

228. This has been explained in Note No. 332, Surah Baqarah.

229. That is: Expiation for breaking the oath. Kaffarah or expiation is the act prescribed by the Shariah such as giving alms etc for removing the sin of a fault committed. The word kaffarah means to cover .

230. That is if after taking an oath, you break it, then it will be incumbent upon you to expiate for that.

231. That is: Be very cautious in the matter of taking an oath, and when you have taken an oath remember it and try to redeem it. And if you are required to break it, then expiate for it. It means that in the matter of taking oaths carelessness is an irresponsible act.

232. Explanation regarding games of chance, drawing lots or divining arrows has been given in Note No.26.

233. Here three outstanding evils of winedrinking and gambling have been mentioned: First: These habits fan the flames of hatred and enemity among people. Since intoxicants like wine are stimulants, and also affect the intellect and consciousness, a sort of provocation is generated in the drinker’s mind and in this state the sense of revenge becomes uppermost. A man’s intellect does not remain in a position to take the right decision or to control himself. This is the reason why we see many more accidents and tragic happenings in the state of intoxication and the rate of crimes also increases. In other words there is an undeniable connection between the crimes and wine-drinking.

As regards gambling, a loser has rancour in his heart against the winner, because in his heart he believes that his money has not changed hands on the basis of truth and justice, but only because of chance. In trade and business a man may sustain some loss, but he is not defeated, but in gambling defeat is an essential part of the game of chance along with the loss and damage, and this concept of defeat generates in the mind of the loser a bitter feeling against the winner.

Secondly, the characteristic of wine and gambling both is to lure men away from remembering God, and it is a fact that the drunkards are generally found to be involved in sinful acts and pleasure-seeking. Similarly a gambler is so much overwhelmed by the concept of winning and losing that a sense of leading a responsible life does not bother him at all, and he becomes a prey to the tendency of living a life of pleasure and luxury.

“Thirdly, these things prevent him from offering prayer to God. It is a thing of common observation that generally those who indulge in wine-drinking and gambling do not care to offer salat. In reality it is found that only those persons offer prayer whose souls are awakened. Wine and gambling lull the souls to sleep, then how a man indulging in them can rise for offering prayer. For further explanation, Notes Nos. 316, 317 and 318 of Surah Baqarah and Note No. 97 of Surah Nisa may be seen.

It should be noted that by Khamr (wine) is meant, as stated by the Prophet (Sallal lahu Alaihi Wasallam) every kind of intoxicant:

“Everything which may cause intoxication is khamr (wine) and every intoxicant is haram (forbidden).” (Muslim- Kitabul Ashrabah).

In another Hadith it mentioned that :- “Every thing that may cause intoxication and prevent from offering prayer (Salat) is forbidden.” –(Muslim - Kitabul Ashrabah).

It shows that the main cause of these things being forbidden is their ability to intoxicate. Therefore, every thing, which causes intoxication is khamr (wine), whether it is prepared from grape, or from dates, or from barley, or jaggery, or whatever name may have been given to it by the people. Besides beer, whisky, wine, the alcohol used for purposes of intoxication and all intoxicants, whether solid or liquid are covered by this command. It is also mentioned in the hadith:

“A thing whose large quantity can cause intoxication, its small quantity is forbidden.” –(At- Tirmizi- Abwabul- Ashrabah).

It is so because there should be no leaning towards what is forbidden and the opening for mischief should be closed. It should also be understood about gambling that every dealing which it has, is dependent on chance and losing and winning as its basis is a game of chance, whether it is a betting on the cotton futures or horse-racing or dog-racing, or in any other form. The present day lotteries also are the developed forms of gambling, even if they are state lotteries.

Allah has made the Ka‘ba, the Sacred House, a means of stability for the people, as also the Sacred Month, the animals for sacrifice and the animals with collars around their necks (as mark for sacrifice), so that you may know that Allah has knowledge of what is in the heavens and on the earth and that Allah is well acquainted with all things. (Al-Quran)

234. That is: Before the clear and absolute command banning wine-drinking etc, was revealed, whatever the people might have eaten or drunk, Allah, will not call them to account for that, provided they had given the proof at every time of test and trial of their having fear of God , steadfastness and righteousness. The repeated mention of fear of God, faith, righteousness in these verses points to the fact that in obeying the Divine Commands occasions for trial repeatedly occurred, and the sincere slaves of Allah gave a good account of themselves and proved to be loyal to Him.

235. The command for prohibiting hunting when a man has put on Ihram for pilgrimage was given in the Verse No. 1. Here the people are being informed that in this connection they will be tried repeatedly, that is Allah will provide such occasions when the game would be within easy reach of their spears and they would be able to hunt the animals easily, but they should fear Allah and their pledge of following the Shariah should be kept.

At the time of the revelation of the Quran, hunting was a necessity for the Arabs. Therefore, this restriction was not a convenient thing for them and there was an open test for them.

236. In the command for not hunting while on the pilgrimage is also included the restriction for not capturing and slaughtering any animal that can be hunted if it comes near and can be easily caught and slaughtered.

237. That is: Like the animal that he has killed, and which should be a domestic animal and that should be sent to Ka‘ba for sacrifice, for example if the pilgrim has killed a deer, then its equivalent can be a goat, and the equivalent of a neel-gai can be a cow. But the decision as to which animal can be considered equivalent would be given by two just and truthful men of faith.

238. This judgment will also be given by two Dawatul Qur’an 375 S.5 o o o o o o just and truthful men as to how many poor and needy persons should be fed or how many days fast should be observed.

239. It means that expiation or atonement does not mean that a man may go on committing sins after making atonements for them, and remaining under the wrong impression that he will not be called to account in the Hereafter.

240. That is: Hunting in the sea and rivers, etc., while on the pilgrimage is lawful. Similarly the food obtained from such hunting by the pilgrim (Muhrim) or by a non-pilgrim (Gair- Muhrim) is lawful for all, the pilgrims and nonpilgrims.

The words ‘ta ‘amuhu’ (its food, i.e. sea-food) signify that without hunting, the food which the sea or the river may itself throw out are lawful for being consumed as food.

241. It is a point for gathering for the people and is an axis of all their activities. Forms of worship like Hajj and Umra are connected with it.It is the Qibla for salat. Religious interests are linked with it. Here the spring of guidance gushes forth. It is the House of peace, refuge of humanity, and is the most important means of unity of the millat.

242. The command about these things has been given in Verse No.2. Here it is being explained that along with the sacredness of the House of Ka‘ba the sanctity of these things also carry the most important religious interests. Therefore, the directions that are being given in connection with their sanctity and deference should be observed scrupulously.

243. That is: The great benefits that are connected with these symbols convince us that the Being who has created this system of sanctity and has sent down the Shariah that is full of wisdom is in the know of all the realities of the heavens and the earth and He is absolutely perfect in His knowledge.

244. Means that those who would show disrespect to these symbols would be liable for punishment and those who would show respect to them would deserve to be blessed with favours and bounties.